Door latch



P 8, 1931- E. ELLINGSON 1,822,279

DOOR LATCH Filed March 17, 1930 IN V EN TOR.-

L LING E 4.4 "vase/v BY mmra A TTORNEYS.

Patented Sept. 8 1931 PATENT OFFICE ELLING ELLINGSON, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

DOOR LATCH Application filed March 17, 1930. Serial No. 436,624.

The present invention relates to improvements in door latches and its principal object is to provide a mortise door latch that is very simple in construction and may be easily and quickly installed. The door latch 'is particularly intended to be used in connection with double doors in which one door is usually fastened to the frame at the top and the bottom, while the other door fastens to m the first door. But my latch may also be used in a large variety of'other doors and windows.

More particularly it is intended to provide a door latch of the character described in which the bolt and the operating mechanism for the same are hidden inside of the door, and which is operated by means of a revolvable knob, the latter being the only part of the entire mechanism that shows on the face of the door.

It is further proposed to provide means in connection with a door latch of the characterdescribed in which a tight fit may always be secured between the bolt and thestrike' so 5 that the door is securely held against rattling.

It is further proposed in the present invention to provide a novel means foroperating the bolt of the door latch and to provide u structural features which facilitate the as- 0 sembling of the latch.

A further object of the invention is to provide operating means for a door latch of the character described that may be conveniently connected to the bolt or a rod extending therefrom after the latter have been installed out the aid of screws. A furtherobject of the invention is to provide an operating means for a door latch that will automatically lock the latter in closedand open position.

Further objects and advantages of my inthe' specification prolustrated in the accompanying drawing, in

which Figure 1 shows my door latch in position in connection with a pair of French doors,

Figure 2 a vertical section taken along line 22 of Figure '1, V v

Figure 3 a vertical section taken along line 3--3 of Figure 2, and

Figure 4 a fragmentary detail view illnstrating a particular step taken in the assembling of my latch.

While I have shown only the preferred form of my invention, it should be understood that various changes or modifications may be made within the scope of the claims hereto attached without departing from the spirit of the invention. V

In Figure l is shown a double door consisting of the two sections 1 and 2 hinged in the door casing 3 as shown at 4. One of the door sections is secured in its frame by means of upper and lower latches shown at 5 and 6, while the other section is made for fastening to the first section by a conventional lock 7. The door section in which my invention is employed is formed with two intersecting mortises 8 and 9, the former extending inwardly from the edge of the door and the latter from the face of the door. A small housing 10 is introduced into the outer end of the mortise 8 and is flanged as shown at '11, the flange resting in a recess in the door edge formed for this purpose. The latch bolt 12 is slidably mounted in this housing and a spring 13 bearing on the bolt urges the same outward into a recess 14 formed in the frame, which latter has a conventional strike plate 15 fastened thereover. The latch bolt 12 has a rod 16 extending from its inner end through the full length of the mortise 8, the rod being made extensible as shown at 17 by the pro vision of two sections, one of which is threaded into the other. The inner end of the rod 16 terminates in a screw eye 16 and extends into a casinglS anchored in the mortise 9 by'means of tongues 19 punched out of the cyhndncal Wall of the easing into the door material after the casing has been positioned. The casing 1s made cylindrical in cross section from the face of the door to approximately the center of the mortise 8, and from that point on extends further into the door in the shape of a section somewhat less than semi-cylindrical shown at 20. This construction allows of endwise movement of the rod 17 in the casing, while at the same time the full section of the casing provides an abutment holding the rod against side-wise movement in the direction of the knob hereinafter described.

The operating means for the rod comprise principally a bushing 21, a bolt 22 extending through the bushing eccentrically, and a knob 23. The bolt 22 is adapted for threaded engagement with the screw eye of the rod 16 and the bushing itself is comparatively short, while the threaded portion of the bolt 22 is comparatively long, so that the bolt may be initially engaged with the rod in the manner shown in Figure 4, while the bushing remains outside of the casing. After the bolt has thus been started, the bushing is swung into place for entering the casing and the bolt is tightened whereby the bushing is drawn into the casing and held in operative position.

The knob 23 which is preferably made of glass and is fastened to the bushing 21 by means of a central screw 24c, and is held against revolving motion on the bushing by means of a small recess 25 adapted to receive the head of the bolt 22. For assembling my latch the latch bolt assembly is first introduced into the mortise 8, and the length of the rod adjusted in such a manner that its inner end projects into the mortise 9. The casing 18 may then be introduced and anchored by punching the tongues 19 into the door material. Thereafter the bushing 21 with its bolt 22 is placed in the position shown in Figure 4, which allows the operator to watch the screw eye 16 of the rod 1.6 for establishing threaded engagement between the bolt 22, and the rod. Thereupon the bushing is swung into operative position relative to the casing, and the bolt 22 is tightened so that bushing is now drawn close to the outer end of the casing, and the rod is drawn up to the abutment formed by the full section of the casing which holds the rod against side-wise movement, and thereby prevents end-wise movement of the bushing. Next, the knob is applied to the bushing in such a manner that the head of the bolt 22 fits in the recess 25 and the screw 24 is threaded into the bushing for holding the knob.

It will be seen that the above manner of assembling my device is very simple, and that the operation is quickly performed. The only portion of the device visible on the face of the door is the knob which is preferably made of glass and presents an attractive appearance. For operating the latch bolt the knob is turned slightly more than 180 of a revolution, whereby the rod 16 and bolt 12 are retracted into inactive position, the inner end of the rod traveling on an arc as indicated in Figure 3. As has been noted before, the section 20 of the cas ing is reduced so as to be somewhat less than semi-cylindrical so that in fully retracted position, the inner end of the rod 17 swings beyond the center whereby the rod and the bolt are firmly locked in that position. The bolt is returned to active position by the action of the spring 13, but to release the bolt it is first necessary to slightly turn the knob 23 past dead center. The bushing is held in position by the bolt 22 and the knob is held against turning motion by the head of the latter bolt. A knob is provided on one side of the door only.

it has also been noted that the end of the latch bolt 12 is tapered and is projected by a comparatively strong spring. The depth of the entry of the latch bolt may be adjusted by the rod it. By this arrangement the door is lirmly held against rattling. The anchoring of the casing in the manner described eliminates screws and insures a permanent and iirm setting of the casing ill the door.

I claim:

1. A latch for a door having intersecting mortises comprising a latch bolt s'lidably mounted in one of the mortises, a casing fixed in the other mortise, a rod extending from the latch bolt into the casing and a bushing revolvable in the casing having an eccentric member rotatably fastened to the rod, the casing having a cut-away section allowing of swinging movement of the rod through an angle of slightly more than 180 degrees.

2. A latch for a door having intersecting mortises comprising a latch bolt slidably mounted in one of the mortises, a casing fixed in the other mortise, a rod extending from the latch bolt into the casing and a bushing revolvable in the casing having an eccentric member bearing thereon and threadedl y connected with the rod, the relative lengths of the bushing and the threaded portion of the eccentric member being such as to allow of initial engagement of the rod while the bushing remains outside of the casing, and to effectively secure the rod and the bushing in operative position in the casing.

3. A latch for a door having intersecting lock and bolt mortises comprising a bolt slidable in the bolt mortise, a cylindrical casing in the lock mortise having a reduced portion in alinement with the bolt mortise, a bushing rotatable in the casing, and means connecting the bolt and the bushing whereby a rotative movement of the bushing of slightly more than degrees fully retracts the bolt and automatically holds the bolt in that position.

4. A latch for a door having intersecting lock and bolt mortises comprising a bolt slidably mounted in the bolt mortise having a rod extending into the lock mortise, said rod terminating in a screw eye, a cylindrical casing mounted in the lock mortise, a bushing rotatable in the end of the casing, a screw bolt extending through the bushing eccentrically and into threaded engagement with the screw eye of the rod for securing the bushing in position on the casing and for actuating the bolt.

5. A latch for a door having intersecting lock and bolt mortises comprising a bolt slidably mounted in the bolt mortise having a rod extending into the lock mortise, said rod terminating in a screw eye, a cylindrical casing mounted in'the lock mortise having a reduced portion in alinement with the bolt mortise wherein the rod moves for actuating the bolt, the said reduced portion forming a shoulder for limiting the movement of the rod and also forming an abutment against the full section of the casing for holding the rod against sidewise movement, a bushing rotatable in the end of the casing, a screw bolt extending through the bushing eccentrically and into threaded engagement with the screw eye of the rod for securing the bushing in osition in the casing and for actuating the ELLING ELLINGSON. 

